Winters, Geno among free agent decisions looming for Jets

Jan 12, 2017 | 3:30PM

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(USA Today)

Ralph Vacchiano, SNY:

Coming off a miserable season, the Jets are in a difficult offseason position. They don't project to have much cap room, at least until they start cutting some high-priced players. And whatever cap room they do create might have to be spent on the quarterback they so obviously and desperately need.

And since they'll have to replace many of the players they cut, they may not have much room to re-sign their own players. The good news, though, is coming off a miserable, 5-11 season it's not like they have a lot of unrestricted free agents they absolutely can't live without.

There are a couple worth bringing back, though. Here's a look at their list of free agents, and how hard they might try to re-sign them...

Jets add McDougle to active roster, waive Davis

Nov 12, 2016 | 4:33PM

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Nov 29, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets cornerback Dexter McDougle (23) and line judge Phil McKinnely (110) look at the score board during a game against the Miami Dolphins in the second half. The Jets defeated the Dolphins 38-20 at MetLife Stadium. William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

The Jets have added CB Dexter McDougle to the active roster, waived TE Kellen Davis and have brought LB Victor Ochi back to their practice squad, the team announced Saturday.

McDougle was a third-round pick by the Jets in the 2014 draft. was originally waived by the club early in the season and was re-added to the practice squad. After missing the entire 2014 season with an ACL injury, McDougle recorded six combined tackles in 14 games last year.

Kellen Davis to get x-rays on 'sore elbow'

Oct 31, 2016 | 3:40PM

New York Jets tight end Kellen Davis (47) against the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field. The Jets beat the Bills 37 to 31. (Timothy T. Ludwig)

Jets TE Kellen Davis has a "sore elbow" and will be getting x-rays for the injury, head coach Todd Bowles told reporters on Monday.

Davis suffered the injury during the second half of Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns and did not return.

The veteran tight end signed with the Jets prior to the 2015 season. In 16 games with New York last season, Davis caught three receptions for 18 yards and a touchdown. He is yet to record a catch in 2016.

There were no other injuries of note coming out of yesterday's win, Bowles added.

Friday Injury Report presented by Ram

Oct 2, 2016; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson (96) celebrates after a blocked pass in the second half at MetLife Stadium. Seattle Seahawks defeat the New York Jets 27-17. Mandatory Credit: William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports (William Hauser)

The Jets have released Friday's injury report:The following players will be out on Sunday against the BrownsLB Darron LeeLB Bruce Carter

BGA: Jets Offense from Week 3

By Bent | Sep 26, 2016 | 8:15AM

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Brandon Marshall told reporters he switched off Thursday night's Texans-Patriots game because it was "disgusting." If he relives the film from Sunday's 24-3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he's probably going to end up throwing his TV set in the trash.

Let's get into our position-by-position review of what went wrong with the team's offense...

BGA: Battling the Marsh of time

By Bent | Sep 12, 2016 | 10:30AM

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(William Hauser)

Brandon Marshall got off to a disappointing start to the year, as he had one of his quietest games as a Jet. Marshall had two first down catches over the middle, but his only other reception saw him unable to beat two defenders to get to the goal line after catching a short pass in the red zone.

He also made a poor attempt at a downfield block and his drop at midfield -- even though the pass was thrown slightly behind him -- cost the Jets a chance at getting into range for a potential game-winning field goal.

Marshall was also called for offensive pass interference, negating a fourth catch for a would-be first down. In addition, the Bengals' defenders wanted pass interference called on him on one of his other first down catches and again as he ran a rub route on the play where Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a touchdown pass to Quincy Enunwa.

BGA: Jets come up short when it counts

By Bent | Sep 12, 2016 | 8:45AM

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(Brad Penner)

The offensive line had some good success Sunday against a formidable Bengals front. They paved the way for the running backs to rack up 137 rushing yards and also contributed by getting out in front of a few screen passes. In addition, the pass protection was good, with the Bengals picking up just one coverage sack.

In the running game, the Jets had some success with zone blocking concepts. On the play shown below, the line moves in unison to the right and James Carpenter uses his man's momentum to drive him upfield and create a cutback lane for the run back up the middle. Ryan Clady also contributes by making a cut block at the second level.

Somewhere along the line the bitter sting of missing the playoffs last season turned into hope for the future. It happened right around the time Ryan Fitzpatrick finally re-signed and the Jets looked around and saw most of the same pieces they had last year.

That was especially true on offense, where most of the key players return and veteran running back Matt Forte is added to the mix. Yes, it took a career year from Fitzpatrick to propel the Jets to 10-6 last season. But he doesn't see the Jets' record-setting offensive season as an anomaly. He believes "we've got some stuff we can build on from last year."

Analyzing the Jets' depth chart at tight end

By Brian Bassett | Aug 19, 2016 | 3:45PM

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(Kevin Jairaj)

With the New York Jets opening the season in just a few weeks, we will break down the depth charts of each position in order to look at how the Jets stack up as they prepare for the 2016 NFL season. See the prior reports on safeties and wide receivers, Next up, the tight ends.

Jets release first unofficial depth chart going into preseason opener

Aug 8, 2016 | 8:35PM

The New York Jets released their first unofficial depth chart on Monday night. Among the positional battles, it lists Jordan Jenkins and Lorenzo Mauldin at outside linebacker, Kellen Davis at tight end, Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback and Ben Ijalana at right tackle.

Speaking to the media after Monday's practice, Bowles said it is still early in the preseason to determine who will make the 53-man roster entering the year and who will win some of the positional battles.

"Whether they are battling for starting spots or depth spots," Bowles said, "we have a lot of competition that we didn't have last year, so there are going to be some good football players that won't make this team."

Bowles also said:

Wide receiver Eric Decker did not practice due to leg soreness, but he expects Decker to practice on Tuesday.

He believes QB Geno Smith has made "some strides," but will have an idea on how much progress he has made after Thursday's game.

Jalin Marshall will see some reps at punt returner on Thursday. Jeremy Ross opened as the No. 1 punt returner on the unofficial depth chart and Marshall is No. 4 on the list, but both will see time in the preseason.

He's liked what he's seen out of RB Bilal Powell. "He looks a lot quicker than he did last year," Bowles said. "He's always smart, he's always talking, he's steady. What you see is what you get all the time from him. ... He does a good job training. He keeps his mouth shut, he's very smart, he's very studious and he's very attentive."

TE Davis sidelined after thumb surgery

Jun 10, 2016 | 8:46AM

New York Jets tight end Kellen Davis is expected to be sidelined until training camp next month after having surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb.

Davis, the Jets' primary starter at tight end last season, was hurt last week during organized team activities. Coach Todd Bowles first said Wednesday that Davis' thumb was "sore" before confirming that he recently had surgery.

Jets Keep 'em or Dump 'em: Tight Ends

New York Jets tight end Jeff Cumberland reaches for a pass against the Tennessee Titans at MetLife Stadium. (Vincent Carchietta/USATSI)

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at each position on the New York Jets roster and seeking your input on who you think should stay and who you think should go. Up next, the Jets' tight ends.

Overview: One of the most interesting departures from previous iterations of the Jets offense was the almost willful neglect of the tight end position in the passing game. In 2015, Jets tight ends Jeff Cumberland and Kellen Davis were targeted a total of 25 times (14 and 11, respectively) compared to 107 targets for tight ends Jace Amaro (53), Cumberland (47) and Zach Sudfeld (seven) just a year ago. It's true Amaro was shut down for the season due to a preseason shoulder injury, but would his presence have been the missing piece in the offense?

Five things we learned from Todd Bowles...

Dec 31, 2015 | 1:44PM

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Dec 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles during during the first half of game against the New England Patriots at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim O'Connor-USA TODAY Sports (Jim O'Connor)

BGA: Sudden Deck

By Bent | Dec 28, 2015 | 10:55AM

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(Ed Mulholland)

Eric Decker had his quietest game since opening day, but his third catch of the day won the game in overtime, as he leaned inside like he was going to run a post pattern -- the Jets' go-to red zone play -- and then broke to the outside for a corner fade. That was a nice example of a team breaking a tendency in a key situation to good effect.

Decker, who was primarily matched up with Malcolm Butler, had a 25-yard catch on the Jets' second drive to help set up a field goal, but then didn't make an impact again until late in the game. He first drew a pass interference flag and then caught a pass down the middle on the Jets' final drive of the fourth quarter, which would ultimately stall after New England had tied the score.

Decker was only targeted six times and had one drop. That's the fewest since before the bye week. Decker needs 23 yards next week to register another thousand yard season. His 11 touchdowns are just three short of the team record.

BGA: Marshall Artistry

By Bent | Dec 14, 2015 | 10:56AM

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(Brad Penner)

Brandon Marshall continues to exceed expectations following another 125-yard performance on six catches. While over half of those yards and his lone touchdown came on a shocking coverage breakdown, Marshall took advantage with great speed down the sideline and a tightrope act inside the 10-yard line.

Perhaps his most impressive play saw him catch a pass in the flat on third-and-10 and stiff-arm the defender in the open field to get to the marker. The Jets ran the same kind of play unsuccessfully a few times in the loss to the Bills last month. I guess this is how it was supposed to work.

Of course, Marshall seemed to be banged-up at that time. He totaled 12 catches for 114 yards in the three games that ended with that Bills game. He has averaged nine for 129 since then, a total of 387 yards over those three games.

BGA: The Amazingly Randy

By Bent | Dec 7, 2015 | 2:32PM

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New York Jets kicker Randy Bullock (8) kicks a field goal against the New York Giants during the first quarter at MetLife Stadium. (Brad Penner)

While most of the attention will justifiably go towards the coverage breakdown that led to the 80-yard punt return for a touchdown by Dwayne Harris, that was only one of several special teams breakdowns that could have cost the Jets the game.

However, ironically, it proved to be special teams that won the game for the Jets (or, at least, lost it for the Giants) with Randy Bullock's field goal in overtime being followed up by a Josh Brown miss - his first of the season.

On that punt return, the first problem was that Ryan Quigley out-kicked his coverage. Three of Quigley's other four punts went out of bounds - perhaps by design - while the other was just a 30-yard net after another decent return on a kick near the sideline.

BGA: All Hands on Deck

Nov 9, 2015 | 11:00AM

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(Bill Kostroun)

With Brandon Marshall less than 100% and not putting up his regular big numbers, Ryan Fitzpatrick had to spread the ball around a bit more this week.

Eric Decker led the way with six catches for 79 yards but five of those came in the first half. The Jets two longest plays of the game, accounting for just over half of Fitzpatrick's second half yardage, came from two unlikely sources: tight end Jeff Cumberland and recent addition Kenbrell Thompkins.

The defense essentially ignored Cumberland on his 44-yard catch and run - and why wouldn't they? After all, he had been averaging less than five yards per game to that point. Maybe this whole time it's just been a long con and they spent half a season setting up that play by never looking for him. As for Thompkins, he got a step down the middle against a middle linebacker in a Tampa-2 type look and hauled in a nice diving catch over the top.